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The "The Fall Were A Right Load Of Old Bollocks, Weren't They ?" Thread

Started by Lisa Jesusandmarychain, January 11, 2019, 01:14:20 PM

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Funcrusher

Yeah, Frenz Experiment is where they lose it - there's some okay material on it but the productions wrong. Never bothered with anything after that. For all that Smith contributed as lyricist, front man and overall director/ringmaster of the thing, the musical contributions of the various musicians during their classic era were a massive part of it. Once it becomes Smith and some bunch of randoms he's dredged up at a youth club. no thanks.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

^ Especially true of the Ben Pritchard years, when we were treated to Pub Rock Fall.


Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: the science eel on January 12, 2019, 10:17:16 AM
Oh, I'm green to the gills!

I didn't see them until 1987 (MES in a silver shirt, about nine of them on stage, kicked off with 'Fiery Jack') and they were very good.

I'm most proud (if that's the right word) of seeing their last-ever gig in Glasgow in November 2017.

Yeah, I saw them around that time, too, deffo remember Silver Shirt Smiffy, and Marcia Schofield coming out to do 'Haf Found Bormann', while Smiffy did his Les Dawson stuff on keyboards. At Nottingham Rock City, it was.
How did you feel witnessing the last gig, Eely ? Did you actually think to yerself " Oh Christ, He's going to die soon " ?

Earlier this year I wrote to a friend saying that I had a terrible feeling that MES was going to die (this year). The lorry arrivedHe died the next day.

Funcrusher


ajsmith2

Agree with The Science Eel that the lyrics kind of 'Fall' off a cliff after the late 80s.. but only cos they were so good for the first decade of the band.. their later lyrics are still good compared to the average of rock lyrics, but they're pretty formless and lazy compared to the intense threads and inspired storytelling he could cook up in the early years.. I'm not the biggest Fall fan overall but I think 79-87 MES lyrics are fairly peerless in how brilliant they are.

Golden E. Pump

The only song by them I've ever been able to abide is 'Telephone Thing'. They're really not my bag, but I can see exactly why people like them.

See also: Half Man Half Biscuit.

Rocket Surgery

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 12, 2019, 12:48:00 PM
Earlier this year I wrote to a friend saying that I had a terrible feeling that MES was going to die (this year).

This year?

Golden E. Pump


the science eel

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 12, 2019, 12:48:00 PM
How did you feel witnessing the last gig, Eely ? Did you actually think to yerself " Oh Christ, He's going to die soon " ?

No! It didn't start too well (not sure why, it just didn't lift off), but then around three songs in I started smiling. And I walked out smiling too, thinking 'you can NEVER write him off'. He was in a wheelchair but that didn't really indicate anything much.

I'd heard all sorts of talk about him being ill but took most of it with a pinch of salt. Like most of us here, I suspect, I was fucking devastated when I heard the news.

jobotic

I don't know if it's available anywhere (I have it on video but not had anything to play it on for years) but if people who aren't sure watched Perverted By Language Bis they might see that The Fall could be a lot of fun as well as obtuse and hard work.

It's probably all on YouTube.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain


Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: jobotic on January 12, 2019, 06:48:29 PM
I don't know if it's available anywhere (I have it on video but not had anything to play it on for years) but if people who aren't sure watched Perverted By Language Bis they might see that The Fall could be a lot of fun as well as obtuse and hard work.

It's probably all on YouTube.

Yes ! The video for " Eat Y' Self Fitter " is a gem, inclusive of Smitty and his splendid mullet showing off some slinky dance moves at one point.

I've liked Fall stuff from all through their career but understand the criticisms of post-1987 'shininess' derailing them a bit. I think it's more the ubiquitous production techniques of the era at fault rather than Smith going off the boil. Rock/pop/etc records from the late 80s till around the mid 90s suddenly had to meet certain fashonable hi-fi standards to be taken seriously (ie. what seemed like bright and glossy CD-friendliness then but sounds horribly chintzy and tinny to modern ears). You couldn't get away with the lo-fi or 'weird' production bands like the Fall had previously utilised (to great effect) anymore.

good times

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on January 11, 2019, 01:38:21 PM

He treated women appallingly (particularly his last Tracy Barlow lookalike wife, who got a hard time even for showing up at his funeral (not from Smitty, admittedly ))

of all the confusing things said in this thread, the above bolded quote has to be the winner

Tracy Barlow, second from left:



the Fall's post-80s stuff is highly under-rated in general. There was definitely the odd lull, but even the poorest albums have a few essential tunes on.

For anyone doubting The Fall's powers from the 90s onwards, 2000's the Unutterable is essential listening.




Mark Steels Stockbroker

I think Frenz is good and works fine in portraying the time it was made, just like Dragnet or Grotesque

MattD

I mean, Mark E Smith... the guy was a grade-a c*nt.

A few excellent albums but massively overrated by soft lads from The Quietus and BBC 6 Music who thought that behaviour was rebellious. He was a moronic scumbag for the best part, and produced rambling dirge for most of his career.

No doubt though that 6 Music will find time to wheel out anouther pseudo-intellectual piece on him, in between all the billion Bowie tributes that that station is obsessed with.

Paaaaul

Quote from: MattD on January 19, 2019, 08:29:03 PM
I mean, Mark E Smith... the guy was a grade-a c*nt.

A few excellent albums but massively overrated by soft lads from The Quietus and BBC 6 Music who thought that behaviour was rebellious. He was a moronic scumbag for the best part, and produced rambling dirge for most of his career.

No doubt though that 6 Music will find time to wheel out anouther pseudo-intellectual piece on him, in between all the billion Bowie tributes that that station is obsessed with.
Thanks for not writing "cunt".

Phil_A

Quote from: MattD on January 19, 2019, 08:29:03 PM
I mean, Mark E Smith... the guy was a grade-a c*nt.

A few excellent albums but massively overrated by soft lads from The Quietus and BBC 6 Music who thought that behaviour was rebellious. He was a moronic scumbag for the best part, and produced rambling dirge for most of his career.

No doubt though that 6 Music will find time to wheel out anouther pseudo-intellectual piece on him, in between all the billion Bowie tributes that that station is obsessed with.

i think that you are dead hard and cynical just like my hero Marky Smith, can I join your band please


Nowhere Man

Quote from: Golden E. Pump on January 12, 2019, 04:15:06 PM
Died on my birthday last year.

Prince died on my birthday in 2016, took me a long time to get over that one. It took a long time to even be able to listen to his music again without feeling overly sad.

I think I could always enjoy the Fall because I never honestly gave a shit about Mark's opinions or had a desire to meet him. Not even sure i'd have wanted to be in his line of sight to be honest.

Mark Steels Stockbroker

There were many different MESmiths, and not just in a public/private sense. There was the rather idealistic 70s 20 year old, the gobby young man in the early 80s who was trying to make a living, there was the potential pinup who could have passed for a top footballer, there was the successful businessman who's done well by the end of the decade. And then there were the years of decline that led to the craggy old wreck which is the version most newcomers encounter.

Best place to start: the sleevenotes to Totales Turns.

Jockice

Quote from: Nowhere Man on January 20, 2019, 11:00:21 AM
Prince died on my birthday in 2016, took me a long time to get over that one. It took a long time to even be able to listen to his music again without feeling overly sad.

I think I could always enjoy the Fall because I never honestly gave a shit about Mark's opinions or had a desire to meet him. Not even sure i'd have wanted to be in his line of sight to be honest.

Paula Yates died on my birthday. As did Pat Phoenix and Laura Ashley. So now you know.

purlieu

There's way too much positivity about The Fall in this thread for my liking.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain


phantom_power

I like some of their music but Smith was a bit of a twonk. I am truly a centrist when it comes to The Fall

the science eel

You can single out faults with MES/The Fall, there are plenty of them, but it's the same for every other band. It is!

So....they're still the best.


sevendaughters

Frenz is a good pick-up from the slightly flat Bend Sinister and the Frenz/IAKO line-ups the best-looking The Fall would ever be.

I listened to all their records last year and there is some very good stuff in the post-Real New Fall years, especially if it involved Tim Presley, and Sub-Lingual Tablet is a good record on the whole. 

kalowski

I really like their early stuff but by God they are one overrated pile of bollocks.

grassbath

I don't listen to them a great deal and can't really claim to have ever gotten through a whole album and enjoyed it. But I'm still sort of fascinated - the originality and uncompromising attitude is something to behold. And I do think MES was something of a genius. Just an incredibly interesting person to observe and learn about and listen to. Occasionally I'll just go down the rabbit hole and watch tons of interviews, or read loads of entries on 'The Annotated Fall.'

I do have a Spotify playlist of stuff that does it for me ('Leave the Capitol,' 'Blindness,' 'Paintwork,' 'The Classical,' 'Fiery Jack' seem to get aired the most).